Aaliyah
by Aaliyah-Charity
Summary: I FIXED IT!!!! At least I hope so....What if Two-Bit had twin sisters, one of them having musical abilities but medical disabilities? Find out how one girl can change one town....
1. Default Chapter

Aaliyah  
  
By:Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: This has AshleyMathews in it, she's one of the main characters! Go read her stories first because hers is way better than mine, and can provoke your emotions better, but don't forget me! I got this idea while playing Loch Lomond on my trombone and listening to Caramel by City High on my radio! Strange way to think of a story, but it's really good, at least I hope so. Hey, yo, check out LadyAurora2065's stories, too, 'kay? And read my other stories, too, at least all my other 'Outsiders' stories, okay? Thank you! ^_~!  
  
Disclaimer: The Outsiders belong to S.E. Hinton, AshleyMathews belongs to Ashley Mathews, Aaliyah belongs to me, and Mrs. Herrera belongs (and is) to Adriana Herrera, only much younger! I'm sorry if you don't like this, AshleyMathews, I'll take it off if I offended you. And 'Prelude Op. 28/15 in D Flat MAJOR RAINDROP' belongs to Frederic Chopin, the deceased musician.  
  
Chapter 1: 'As Usual' or 'A Typical Day'  
  
One day, Mrs. Mathews had a beautiful son named Keith, whom everyone called Two-Bit. A little while later, she had twins, two girls. Ashley and Aaliyah. The problem was that while the two were developing as fetuses, Ashley was on top of Aaliyah, which played havoc with Aaliyah's health. As a result, Ashley was a healthy schoolgirl who was a pretty popular track star, and Aaliyah turned out to be practicially mute, and have disorders lile Grand Mal Seizure disorder, catatonic schizophrenia, and asthma, and had to be homeschooled. Having Mr. Mathews run out on them did not make matters any better. Fortunately, the government helped a lot with her medications, and that was settled. While everyone in her family went on with their busy lives, Aaliyah kept busy teaching herself school, sitting idly in their rocking chair, and taking music lessons from one of their neighbors learning how to play all kinds of instruments. Life is full of changes, and this story tells how very true that is.  
  
Ashley Mathews and Ponyboy Curtis came to Ashley's house to study for a huge math test coming up.  
  
"Are you ready for the test?" Ponyboy asked Ashley.  
  
"I don't think so. I can't understand half the stuff the teacher talks about," she groaned, "I would ask Aaliyah 'cause she's like, eighteen months ahead of us, but if she tries to talk, she whispers so quietly that you can't hear her half the time!"  
  
"Hm, well, we'll figure it out," he assured her.  
  
"I hope so," she said as she walked in her house. As usual, Aaliyah was in her rocking chair by the window studying a piece of music. When she saw them, she smiled and waved.  
  
"Hi, Aaliyah," they both said and went to the kitchen to study, leaving her to study her music.  
  
"Alright, so, you take 8x and subtract it with negative 8x and add negative 8x to the other side and then-," Ponyboy started.  
  
"WHAT?! You're getting me all confused!" Ashley exclaimed.  
  
"Oh, whatever! Now you got me confused!" he exclaimed, and they spent the next ten minutes whining to each other how they didn't understand the math problems. Then, Ashley felt a hand tap on her shoulder.  
  
"AHHHH!!!!" she yelled. She then saw it was Aaliyah.  
  
"Oh, yeah, what do you want, Aaliyah?" Ashley asked. Aaliyah handed her a piece of paper with writings on it.  
  
"Thank you," Ashley said, and Aaliyah went back to her rocking chair, studying the music once more. Ashley looked at the paper, and it had explanations on the math problems and everything!  
  
"Look, Ponyboy! She wrote down all the explanations! Now I get it!" Ashley cheered, showing Ponyboy the paper.  
  
"That's tuff! I can actually understand it! She must be very smart!" he declared. Suddenly, the two heard the door open, and heard it slam.  
  
"Hi, Aaliyah!" they heard Two-Bit say, and they rushed to see him. He was giving his littlest sister a hug.  
  
"You know, you should turn on the lamp, it's getting too dark to see," he advised her. Aaliyah nodded her head and turned on the lamp above her, and sat down again to study the music. Again. Like always. Like she always did.  
  
"Let me see that," Two-Bit grabbed the sheet of music, and all he saw was a bunch of lines with black circles and stems and numbers. He had no idea how Aaliyah could have fun with herself studying a piece of music. Heck, he didn't understand how she could have fun with herself at all.  
  
"How can you have fun studying 'Prelude Op. 28/15 in D Flat MAJOR RAINDROP'?" Two-Bit asked, handing her back the music. Aaliyah smiled and continued to study it intently. Ashley and Ponyboy went back to their studying, and Two-Bit turned on the TV.  
  
About two hours later, they heard another person coming in the door.  
  
"Hi, Aaliyah," they heard Sodapop and Steve saying. They passed her and joined Two-Bit, and the three were talking intently. Soon, even Dally and Johnny were there, all saying a quick 'hi' to Aaliyah, and were talking to the others. Like always, Aaliyah was by herself by the window, studying her music, and the others were talking their heads off. As always, and as usual.  
  
At ten o'clock, they were still talking their heads off, when Ponyboy and Sodapop felt a tap on their shoulders. It was Aaliyah. She pointed to the clock.  
  
"Uh-oh, we better get going, before Darry kills us again," Ponyboy said, getting his stuff.  
  
"Yeah, thanks, Aaliyah," Sodapop said, following Ponyboy out the door after saying goodbye. As usual, Aaliyah went back to her music, and slowly, one-by-one, they all went home, or wherever they went to sleep. Mrs. Mathews came home about eleven o'clock, and saw Two-Bit asleep at the couch, Ashley asleep on top of her notebooks, and Aaliyah awake with her music in her hands, as usual.  
  
She woke up Two-Bit first, and he crawled up to his very messy room and threw himself in bed, then Ashley, who she had to help get to bed, and went to Aaliyah, who was rocking herself, still studying the notes of the song, moving her right hand, as if to conduct the music.  
  
"Aaliyah, it's time to go to sleep," she told her youngest daughter. Aaliyah got up, reached in her pocket and gave her mother a note. She got it and started to read.  
  
Dear Mrs. Mathews,  
  
I am leaving in two days to visit my sick sister. I am asking if Aaliyah could bring some of my instruments to your home so she may practice while I visit my sister. Send me a note along with Aaliyah at tommorow's lesson, and I'll come with her with the instruments.  
  
Thank You,  
  
Aaliyah's Music Teacher,  
  
Mrs. Adriana Herrera  
  
"Well, I see no problem with that," Mrs. Mathews concluded the matter, getting out a piece of paper sending her condolenses and approval, "but you have to keep them in your room unless you are practicing, okay?"  
  
Aaliyah's head nodded quickly up and down like one of those bobbinghead figures, giving her mother a hug. Mrs. Mathews handed her a note, and Aaliyah put it in her music folder that she always were studying.  
  
"But you can not fall behind in your schoolwork, okay?" Mrs. Mathews sternly told her. Aaliyah nodded her head again.  
  
"Goodnight, Aaliyah," she said, and Aaliyah waved to her, never making a sound. Mrs. Mathews sat at the table, thinking to herself that something was going to change very soon. Very, very soon. 


	2. Something Different

Aaliyah  
  
By:Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: Here's the second chapter! It might be a little confusing, though, but please bear with me. The exciting part's coming up, I just got to get the before parts down first!  
  
Disclaimer: The Outsiders belongs to S.E. Hinton. Ashley belongs to AshleyMathews, and Aaliyah belongs to me! ^_~!  
  
Chapter 2:'Something Different'  
  
The next day, Aaliyah woke up at around ten a.m. Quickly, she dressed and got ready to go to Mrs. Herrera's house for lessons. She walked half a block to her house and knocked on the music teacher's door. Mrs. Herrera answered the door and let her in.  
  
Adriana Herrera was a forty-eight year old widow who found her joy in music. She enjoyed music also, and that's how she and Aaliyah met.  
  
"Hello," she welcomed Aaliyah, "Did your mother say it was okay?" Aaliyah nodded and handed her a note.  
  
"Alright, thank you. Now, let's play today the violin. Warm up and we'll get started," she instructed the mute child. While Aaliyah warmed up on the violin, Mrs. Herrera read the note, and got a surprise.  
  
"Good job, Celesta. Now, I have a surprise for you. Remember when you wrote me a list of music you wanted to play?" she asked, calling Aaliyah by her nickname. Aaliyah nodded her head.  
  
"Well, I looked through my very old stacks of music and I found this!" she pulled out a classic piece of music. Aaliyah's eyes shone bright like a Christmas tree when she saw what it was.  
  
"Yes, I played Greensleeves when I was just your age. I played it on the piano and violin, and I do believe you can do it, too. Here, try it," Mrs. Herrera encouraged her pupil. Aaliyah got the violin in perfect position, and played the music perfectly through and through, with only a few minor mistakes.  
  
"That's very good! And that was your first time through, too! That's very nice. Alright, deary, keep on practicing, and I'll get the instruments ready for you, okay?" Mrs. Herrera told her. Aaliyah nodded once more and kept on playing, fixing all the mistakes and everything. While she played, she thought of everything from how Two-Bit would find a new girlfriend to how Ashley and Ponyboy would be flirting to how come Jello wasn't flammable until she was at peace, thinking of nothing but the music, floating away.  
  
"Celesta, I got everything ready," Mrs. Herrera announced. Aaliyah's head shot up.  
  
"It'll take quite some trips to get them all in your home, but we can do it!" Mrs. Herrera announced, full of energy. Then it began. First, they brought the woodwind instruments, for most of them were small and tiny. They loaded them in a wagon, and Mrs. Herrera dragged that over while Aaliyah carried the bassoon and bass clarinet. They went inside Aaliyah's house and up to her room, and put them neatly in a stack. Then they went back and got the string instruments. This took five trips, for instruments such as the cello and doublebass took up a LOT of room. Then came the percussion and keyboard instruments. This took ten trips, but it was all worthwhile. At around two o'clock, Mrs. Herrera declared them to take a break, and continue on with their lesson with the trombone and tuba until around four o'clock when they transported the brass instruments to her house.  
  
They only had about one more trip before they were done, when Ashley, Ponyboy, and Johnny were walking with Two-Bit home, and to their surprise, they saw Aaliyah! For at least the last twelve years, they only saw her in her rocking chair, studying something. But now, they saw her with two huge cases in her hands, with Mrs. Herrera dragging a wagon full of other black and brown cases.  
  
"Wow, where are you going with those?" Two-Bit asked. Aaliyah smiled and pointed to their house.  
  
"Didn't you know? I'm visiting Ana, my sick sister, for awhile, and I'm lending your sister my instruments so she may practice them," Mrs. Herrera explained to the three kids.  
  
"Oh, well, here, let me get that," Two-Bit said, as he took the wagon from Mrs. Herrera, being very un-Two-Bit like, being a gentleman.  
  
"Here, I'll carry that," Johnny got the hugest case from Aaliyah's hand and carried it. Aaliyah smiled directly at him with gratitude, and he blushed fiercely. Ashley saw this and smiled. Anytime guys saw her twin, they all got that way, though not many people in general saw her, much to Two-Bit's relief. She was very beautiful, with her very dark yet pale tanned complexion, gorgeous ebony long hair, brown eyes that turned the most prettiest, mysterious dark blue in the cold, and green in the scorching, scalding hot, and the perfect body that any girl would kill for. It was kind of strange, because she was supposed to have all these ugly face deformaties with Ashley smushing and suffocating her as a fetus, but God made them both beautiful, beautiful twins.  
  
Anyways, they brought the instruments to Aaliyah's room, and when they did, everyones mouths except for Mrs. Herrera and Aaliyah's dropped WIDE open. Her once plain room was now filled with instruments to the ceiling to the floor.  
  
"This looks more like a music store," Two-Bit remarked.  
  
"Are you sure you can play those?" Ponyboy asked, pointing to the huge cello and doublebass cases. Aaliyah nodded while unloading the wagon.  
  
"Celesta plays it well," Mrs. Herrera complimented.  
  
"Who's Celesta?" Ashley asked. Aaliyah smiled again.  
  
"That's Aaliyah's nickname I gave her. If you ever hear the celesta, and you hear how delicate it is, it'll remind you how delicate your twin is," she told Ashley, "See, it's right over there." She pointed to a yellow piano-look-alike instrument. The group all stood in atonishment of how Aaliyah could play all those instruments. It was amazing. Quiet little Aaliyah in her old rocking chair could actually make some noise. That was on everyone's mind at the moment.  
  
"Well, c'mon Celesta, we still have time to play. What instrument would you like to go over?" Mrs. Herrera broke the silence. Immediatly, Aaliyah pointed at a quaint little itty-bitty case and then a long, wide case. She picked them both up.  
  
"Alright. The viola and the piccolo. Alright, let's go then. Goodbye, everyone," Mrs. Herrera hurried along, dragging the wagon. She would miss instructing Aaliyah, and she at least wanted to hear her play once more before she left. As the two left, they left the other four kids surprised and awe-struck.  
  
A/N: Bad ending spot, but you just wait 'til Chapter 3! Thanks for reading this! ^_^! 


	3. Johnny Red-Face

Aaliyah-Charity  
  
By: Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: Actually I wanted to post this up earlier, only ff.net wouldn't let me post it, and while I'm typing this, it still won't! So I'm just waitin' for the day to come. Anyways, I'll keep writin' for ya'll, even if I think no one's reading this. Here's Chapter 3! At the end of the chapter, please don't review complaining of how mushy and gushy this is! Lots of teasing and brotherly/sisterly love in this chapter!  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned The Outsiders, you'd read this is in Reading class, not in your spare time on here.  
  
Chapter 3:'Johnny Red-Face'  
  
The four remaining kids stood there gaping at the instruments.  
  
"Okay, what just happened there?" Ashley asked to absolutely no one.  
  
"I'm not sure. I think our little sister plays instruments and we just found out when all we thought all she did was study music and that she can actually make some noise other than breathing," Two-Bit sarcasticially said, though he was speaking the truth.  
  
"Aw, why are ya'll being so hard on her?" Johnny asked.  
  
"Well, we only seen her inside our house in her rocking chair for at least every day for the past twelve years. I can remember our dad getting on to her a lot and I guess she just grew to that chair," Ashley first said sarcasticially, but then serious and emotional.  
  
"What is this?" Two-Bit wondered, eyeing a blue case. He took it in his hands recklessly without care, and sat down while the other sat with him, their backs to a stack of cases. He opened it, and it was full of some wooden pieces labeled 'Reeds.' He picked a small one, one with two pieces attached to another one (a double-reed) and looked at it closely.  
  
"What the hell is this?" he asked. Suddenly, under his harsh grasp, it broke.  
  
"Two-Bit! What do you think you're doing!" Ashley yelled at him, "That's not even yours, and you broke it!" She picked up one and read the small letters on the end. It said 'Double-Reeds $8.50.'  
  
"Two-Bit! That reed was eight dollars and fifty cents!" her eyes widened.  
  
"WHAT?! For that piece of crap?" he screamed, "Well, there's another box full of 'em here, so don't get so mad," he told her, and closed the case.  
  
"I wonder instruments those are used for," Ponyboy wondered out loud.  
  
"Yeah, so do I," Johnny wondered along, "I wonder if she can really play all those instruments."  
  
"Of course she can, all I ever see her do is study music all day, she has to," Two-Bit emphasized.  
  
"Wow, she's amazing," he gushed.  
  
"Ooh, looks like Johnny has a crush," Ashley cooed, "Watch out for Two- Bit." Johnny's face turned beet-red, no, wait, even redder than that.  
  
"Ooh, are you gonna ask her out?" Ponyboy joined in on the fun. Johnny's face now turned ketchup red.  
  
"I do not like Aaliyah!" Johnny tried to defend himself, but his face just kept getting redder and redder.  
  
"Alright, we believe you," Two-Bit said, not actually believing him.  
  
"I don't!" Johnny tried to deny it, but his face got so red it looked ready to pop open at any second.  
  
"All I said was that she was amazing because she can play all those instruments! That don't mean nothing!" Johnny tried again, but his face got even redder, if that was possible.  
  
Ashley shook her head, smiling a goofy smile at Johnny, as well as Ponyboy and Two-Bit, and for awhile they just snickered and smiled at the red-faced Johnny.  
  
"Alright, c'mon, you guys, let's go see the new movie," Ponyboy broke the silence, and Johnny's face started to become normal again. They all got up, and busted out of there and went to the Nightly Double to see the new flick. It was as usual, except now Two-Bit and Ashley, and sometimes even Ponyboy cracked jokes at Johnny, and his face started to turn abnormal red again. He couldn't concentrate on the movie at all, now that they knew he liked Aaliyah, even if he tried to deny it. He could tell they were gonna tease him for a long while now. He sighed.  
  
After the movie, they all went to the DX to see Steve and Sodapop at work, and surprisingly there weren't any girls around them!  
  
"Well, that's a first," Two-Bit remarked, "Where's all your lovey-dovey admirers?"  
  
"The boss blew them off, but they'll probably be back soon, like the last time," Sodapop simply replied as he brushed off his clothes.  
  
"Hey, what's wrong with Johnny?" Steve asked.  
  
"Yeah, his face looks like someone colored him red with a marker," Sodapop described him.  
  
"Turns out lil' ol' Johnny here likes my lil' sister," Two-Bit blurted out.  
  
"Ashley?" Steve pretended not to know.  
  
"No, you idiot, my twin!" Ashley also blurted out with excitement.  
  
"Ooh, Johnny's got a crush-h, Johnny's got a crush-h," Sodapop chanted, and soon all of 'em started joining in. Poor Johnny's face got even redder and redder, it was about to explode.  
  
"Aw, quit it, guys. All I said was that she was amazing 'cause of all those instruments she plays," Johnny squeaked out.  
  
"Aw, lil' ol' Johnny's tryna deny it," Two-Bit teased. The teasing went on for hours and hours, until they dropped Johnny off at his house. Fortunately, his parents weren't arguing....yet, so they figured Johnny could suffice a night there for awhile.  
  
"I can't believe Johnny likes my twin!" Ashley squealed excitingly, "Wait 'til Angela hears about it! She'll just die of shock!"  
  
"We better not give Johnny too much of a hard time, though," Ponyboy warned her.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, I know....," Ashley trailed on. Then they were at the Curtis house now, so the two Curtis brothers and Steve said goodbye and Two- Bit and Ashley walked on.  
  
"Two-Bit? Do you have the feeling that something is gonna change?" Ashley asked.  
  
"I guess, lots of 'em happened today," Two-Bit replied.  
  
"You know, today was one of the few times I've seen Aaliyah out of the house," Ashley admitted.  
  
"Yeah, but for me, it's the first time I've seen her out of that room," Two-Bit told her.  
  
"I hope things will turn out better for her, though, despite all her medical conditions," Ashley hoped out loud.  
  
"So do I, but I don't know what to do. I can't figure it out," Two-Bit sadly stated.  
  
"Don't worry, things will turn out for the better," Ashley reassured Two-Bit.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so," Two-Bit put his left arm over Ashley's shoulder, and Ashley slung her right arm over his waist and they walked home in silence, filling their hearts and mind with hopes and dreams. 


	4. 'Last Lesson' or 'Ashamed Siblings'

Aaliyah  
  
By:Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: I just finished typing Chapter 3, and decided to go ahead and type Chapter 4! I'll try to not make it so cheesy this time, okay? Alright, now.  
  
Disclaimer: If you had read the first three chapters, you would've known by now that I do not own The Outsiders; S.E. Hinton does. Ashley Mathews belongs to AshleyMathews, and Aaliyah belongs to me! ^_^! Oh and most of the pieces mentioned on here are by Johann Sebastian Bach, Nearer My God To Thee is a hymn, and Loch Lomond is a Scottish folk song.  
  
Chapter 4:'Last Lesson' or 'Ashamed Siblings'  
  
While the gang was makin' fun of Johnny, Aaliyah and Mrs. Herrera were walking to Mrs. Herrera's house.  
  
"Well, Celesta, I will truly miss your playing when I am gone with my sister. She is sick; diagnosed with diabetes and the flu; poor thing. Oh, well, I don't want to burden you with these problems. Ah, here we are. Let's play," Mrs. Herrera said as they reached the Herrera home, full of energy still. She was very energectic and happy for her age, and she didn't look a day over twenty-eight, so it was very understandable.  
  
They went inside, and they entered the parlor, where they had most of their lessons. Aaliyah got out the viola and the piccolo, and starting warming up on the viola, one of Mrs. Herrera's favorite instruments. Mrs. Herrera was humming along to the music while stacking sheet music nicely in piles to give her pupil. She got Aaliyah huge backpack that she's had even before Mr. Mathews had run out on them, and fit as much music in there as she could, but there wasn't enough room, so she put some of the others her old, strong tote bag, and some others in good, thick folders that Aaliyah could carry home.  
  
When she was done, Aaliyah was already playing a piece written by Bach, called Gavotte, something she learned to play about two years ago.  
  
"Well done, dear, you've certainly progressed over the years. I remember when your mother first let me teach you when you were just two years old," Mrs. Herrera remembered, yet not telling her why Mrs. Mathews dropped Aaliyah there, so that Mr. Mathews wouldn't sin her when she was at work, and Ashley was at daycare, and Two-Bit at school.  
  
"Ah, well, now, will you play on the viola 'Nearer My God To Thee?' I feel like listening to a hymn right now," Mrs. Herrera asked. When Aaliyah was four, she was past preband instruments, so the first thing Mrs. Herrera did was teach her violin, and quickly she moved on to viola and even the cello and doublebass by age six. As she moved the bow over the instrument, Mrs. Herrera took in each and every note of the song, embedding the rythmn in her memory.  
  
"Ah, I'll definitely miss that song," Mrs. Herrera told the quiet girl, "Would you like to play me a piece on the piccolo now?" Aaliyah quickly nodded and started to play one of the first songs taught to her, Loch Lomond. When she was three and a half, Aaliyah already knew some percussion instruments, so she was put on piccolo and flute, and she mastered both of them. As she moved on to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, also made by Bach, Mrs. Herrera was touched by the delicacy and beauty of the music that would make even the hardest, toughest man cry tears of happiness. That day, Aaliyah played almost everything with perfection, and you could tell the hard work and dedication shining through her performance.  
  
"Great job, Celesta! I am so proud of you, and as your family hears you for the first time, they will be proud, too, I just know they will! Oh, I will miss you, remember to write me if any problem shall provoke, alright? I'll write you all of my happenings also, and you do so too. Goodbye, my child. Play well," Mrs. Herrera hugged the girl. She passed her her backpack, tote bag, and folders, and kissed her on the cheek goodbye. Aaliyah waved farewell, and they both went their seperate ways, 'til Mrs. Herrera would come back again.  
  
"Bye," Aaliyah mouthed, barely audible to even a dog.  
  
"Bye, my dear," Mrs. Herrera whispered into the night air, as her pupil walked home.  
  
When she got home, Ashley was watching some television with Two-Bit. When they heard the door open, they started laughing at Aaliyah. Aaliyah looked at them with surprise and curiousity, but went straight to her room to put up the music, then selecting a sheet music and coming back into her rocking chair, studying once again. In the background she heard her siblings laughing maniacly with giddiness about something, she didn't know. She was always left out in their jokes and happiness, so she didn't mind much. Ashley would always talk to Aaliyah about her problems, and sometimes even Two-Bit, for Aaliyah'll really listen to you, without ever disturbing you, just burn her eyes into your soul, making you confess your heart out, but that was all. It was hard to stay close to a sister who never talks, but occasionally she was good to set your concious right.  
  
"This was a wierd day," Ashley told her brother, "I still don't believe Johnny likes you-know-who!"  
  
"Calm down. I'm kinda mad about it, in a ways," Two-Bit confessed.  
  
"You can't expect guys to not know her all her life. Some guys are going to meet her and fall in love with her," Ashley wisely told him.  
  
"Yeah, but........Johnny likes her! I can't believe it!" Two-Bit changed the subject, it was getting too sappy. Ashley started squealing, and Two-Bit started laughing and making jokes about Johnny liking his youngest sister. Right when Two-Bit's jokes started to get a little too nasty and dirty, and Ashley started hyperventilating, Aaliyah had chosen to walk in the room.  
  
"Hi, Aali-YAH!" Two-Bit and Ashley started cracking up again. Aaliyah stopped for a second and looked at them like they were as bunch of doofuses, and wondered what qualities they shared with her.  
  
"It's not you, Aaliyah, it's the-hahaHA!" Ashley started, but failed when laughter took over her again. Aaliyah, the girl who never said a word, shook her head shuddering, and walked into the kitchen to get some juice like she intended to, and went back to her rocking chair and studied again. It stayed this way 'til all of them went to bed at different times.  
  
The next day was a Saturday, and the state was visiting the Curtis house, and they wanted everyone to get out, even Darry, so they all decided to go to Two-Bit house, even Angela. Aaliyah didn't know this, so she thought she would be home alone again, which was just fine with her. She didn't know if she would like anyone hearing her play the instruments yet, except for Mrs. Herrera. For this reason, she left her rocking chair for once and decided to go up her room, but then didn't feel any satisfaction, and went back to her rocking chair carrying about ten instruments with her.  
  
Meanwhile, the gang was talking about stuff along the way. Of course, everyone was joking and teasing Johnny, and his face was blood-red again.  
  
"All I said was that she was amazing because she could play those instruments! I'm telling you it don't mean nothing at all!" Johnny tried to defend himself, but with Angela and Ashley making fun of him, there was no way out. Even Darry cracked a joke now and then, and I don't think you even want to hear the disgusting jokes Angela, Dally, and Two-Bit were saying, even though Two-Bit and Ashley would probably kill Johnny if the jokes ever came true.  
  
"Hey, how does she play? Is she any good?" Sandy asked Ashley.  
  
"Uhhhhhhhh, well, uh, I never actually heard her play, I can only remember her studying the music and all," Ashley admitted, ashamed.  
  
"What about you, Two-Bit?" Sodapop asked.  
  
"Uhhhhhhhh, no," Two-Bit admitted also.  
  
"You mean to say you never heard her play once at least?" Ponyboy asked them both in disbelief.  
  
"No, I guess we were so busy and caught up in our lives we never payed any attention to her. She was just there in the rocking chair her whole life, it seems. We never took the time to know what's going on in her life," Ashley looked down at her feet, and Two-Bit did the same with very ashamed faces. Two-Bit and Ashley put their arms around each other, for ashamed siblings must stick together. The others just stared at them.  
  
"Well, she never played at the house, only at that old lady's house," Two-Bit suddenly remembered, not feeling so ashamed anymore.  
  
"Yeah! That is why!" Ashley's head came up, and they were no longer ashamed. They let go of each other, and Two-Bit patted her head.  
  
"You know, when you pat Ashley's head, it reminds me of my next door neighbor who pats his dog's head," Angela spoke up.  
  
"Angela! That's not very nice!" Sandy scolded her. Angela shrugged, and Ashley shook her head, giggling.  
  
"Well, with the instruments, you'll be hearing her play," Ponyboy informed the two sibilings.  
  
"Hey, she might even play today, Johnny," Ashley cooed in Johnny's ear, and his ear turned very red. Angela got on his other side and cooed in that ear, "Yeah...." This continued all the way to the Mathews' house.  
  
"She might be playing. Oh my god! I'm so nervous! I never heard her play before! I'm finally gonna hear her play! Oh, I can't do this! I'm going now, bye!" Ashley took off they way she came from, for she was a very nervous twin right now. Fortunately, Ponyboy ran after her and tackled her to the ground, picked her up, and set her straight. (A/N: Geez, there's a lot of tackling in stories....)  
  
"What's wrong with you, Ashley?" Ponyboy asked in a caring voice that made her melt.  
  
"I don't know....just nervous....let's go," Ashley walked to the house frightened while everyone else was collecting themselves and followed. They were at the door, and Two-Bit placed his hand on the doorknob.  
  
"Are you ready?" he asked everyone. They all nodded, even though Ashley was shaking so fast she was starting to look like a holographic image, and Steve and Ponyboy held her as best they could.  
  
"Alright, here we go," Two-Bit twisted the knob.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED....please review 


	5. Shocked and Remembered

Aaliyah  
  
By: Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: This is Chapter 5! I hope ya'll like it, I just don't know when it'll get to the part that I want to happen really, really soon. Oh, and if you want to know where I get these music songs from, I just either get them from the internet or from my band class, in case anyone is wondering. (Which no one probably is.) Oh, I'm listening to Brooke Allison at this time! Wait, now I'm listening to Fat Joe and Ashante and Ja Rule. Alright, back to Brooke. I'm sorry that I make Ashley so melodramatic, I'm trying my best not too! I have like, five different versions of this chapter, so........  
  
Thank you: Thank you SO much zevie, I love your reviews! Keep them coming! Oh, and congratulations on 'Slashed Tires!' Thank you to LadyAurora2065 for supporting me! Thanks to LL, I'll make sure to carry out your request! Thanks to all y'all who reviewed to my other stories! I'll give ya props when I update them! Thank y'all SO much.  
  
Disclaimer: Seriously, I do not own The Outsiders. Won't ya'll believe me? Ask S.E. Hinton, she'll tell you!!!! Oh, and Ashley belongs to AshleyMathews. Oh, and that line from 'We Were Soldiers' belongs to the people who wrote it. Aaliyah belongs to me.  
  
Chapter 5:'Shocked and Remembered' Orginally:'A Female Orpheus Calms Down Cherry'  
  
Two-Bit twisted the knob, and swung it open. It was completely silent, and Ashley let out a sigh of pure relief. Everybody walked in, searching for something, and surely enough there was Aaliyah in the wooden wicker rocking chair, only now there she was in front of a keyboard. She started playing a piece, it being the first time anyone other than Mrs. Herrera and some of Mrs. Herrera's friends had heard her play. It was a magical feeling, as if Orpheus was living again through her.  
  
"Jesus," Ashley breathed out, amazed. All of them were amazed, standing there frozen. Aaliyah finished and then turned around, a great, confident smile on her face, waving.  
  
"Hi, Babygirl," Two-Bit collected himself as he passed her by and patted her on the head, a habit he did with the twins. He resided on the couch and everyone followed him quietly, which was a very rare thing.  
  
Aaliyah went on playing the piano, beautifully, of course, while everyone talked all at once. Soon, they heard another instrument being played, and when they turned around, they saw a huge string instrument being played (A/N:The doublebass).  
  
"Wow, that thing is bigger than her!" Ashley exclaimed.  
  
"Like what you hear, Johnny?" Angela asked into his ear, and his ears turned a dark ruby. The teasing had began. For the next two hours, everyone covered all the topics and jokes. Suddenly, though, they heard a desperate plea at the door, banging at it. Cries and sobs awaited there.  
  
Everyone stood up, but the door was already being opened by Aaliyah.  
  
"AALIYAH! I JUST CAN'T....TAKE IT NO MORE!........I'VE TRIED SO HARD....," Cherry cried into Aaliyah's shoulder. Then, something happened that no one would ever expect. EVER. Aaliyah grabbed Cherry's shoulders and shook her a little.  
  
"Cherry! Get a hold of yourself! Did you come here to talk to me or did you come here to BADGER YOURSELF!" Aaliyah said to Cherry. Everyone's mouths dropped WIDE open, and Ashley started to get a little woozy, resulting in her hyperventilating and Ponyboy having to hold her up before she fainted, but one thing crossed their minds. Aaliyah was supposed to be mute!  
  
"Oh....I'm sorry, Aaliyah, but-but," Cherry sobbed, not realizing there was other people watching. Aaliyah jerked her head to her left, held her left hand with Cherry's left hand, and led her to her room with her right one, passing all the people in the livingroom.  
  
"What just happened?" Ashley asked Ponyboy, looking up to him, but he couldn't say a word.  
  
"I haven't heard her talk for ten years at least....," Two-Bit trailed off, and reluctantly sat down on the sofa. Johnny was still shocked frozen.  
  
"C'mon, Johnnycake," Sodapop sat him down too.  
  
"Well, what's she doin' with a Soc?" Dally sneered. Everyone then remembered Cherry's tearful enterance.  
  
"I don't know. I didn't know Aaliyah was a psychiatrist," Angela told him.  
  
"I didn't even know she knew who Cherry was," Ashley sighed out.  
  
"I wonder how they know each other," Sandy wondered aloud.  
  
"I don't know," Ashley said, shaking her head in slow motion.  
  
"Well, it's good to hear her talk again," Darry spoke up.  
  
"When did you ever talk to her?" Steve asked him.  
  
"When she was about three or four. I talked to her even after she stopped, only she neevr responded to me since then," Darry informed them all.  
  
"I remember when I talked to her," Steve piped up, "I was six and she was four."  
  
"Oh, yeah, I was with you," Sodapop remembered also.  
  
"What happened?" Two-Bit asked, interested, "What did she ask y'all?"  
  
"Well, she asked Steve, not me. She was afraid of me. Somehow, somebody told her I would drown her with soda if she talked to me," Sodapop glared playfully at Ashley, who looked away.  
  
"Well, what did she ask?" Sandy questioned them. Steve started to tell them his story.  
  
"It all started when she was at my house. Ms. Mathews asked my mom to watch her for some reason, I guess Mrs.-whoever her teacher was wasn't available. I just met Soda and he was over too. My mom asked us to watch her........  
  
flashback begins  
  
The two new friends were watching Aaliyah, when Sodapop went to the bathroom. Steve was sitting down, and Aaliyah was on his lap, sitting sideways with her arms around his neck, with her head on his chest.  
  
"Steve?" she said.  
  
"Yeah?" he answered.  
  
"What's a war?" Aaliyah asked in her curious voice.  
  
"Well, you see....war is something that happens when a group of people wants to take over someone else's property, and the people who owns that property has to fight to keep it," he explained, a passion burning in his eyes. He was very serious for a boy just six years old.  
  
"Oh, that's not good," Aaliyah sighed out.  
  
"No, it's never good, but don't worry. If someone tries to start a war with you, me and Soda and Two-Bit and everyone else will come fight for you," Steve stroked her hair, as Sodapop came in and Aaliyah began to run away from the boy who would supposedly 'drown' her with soda if she talked to him.  
  
"Why does she think I'm a monster?" Sodapop asked his new friend who had that long look in his eyes filled with determination.  
  
flashback ends  
  
"Oh, that's why she asked me....," Darry trailed off. Everyone stared at him.  
  
"What?" Darry asked.  
  
"What did she ask you?" Ashley pounced on him. Before he could answer, Cherry and Aaliyah came out of her room, and Cherry wiped her tears away.  
  
"Thank you so much, Aaliyah. You're an angel, a miracle worker," Cherry complimented Aaliyah. She hugged her tightly, breathed a deep sigh, waved goodbye to everyone, and went out the door, wiping away a tear. Aaliyah turned to go back to her rocking chair. As she turned around to do so, she half-smiled on her left side, closed her eyes for awhile, and opened her eyes. She did look like an angel almost. Everyone gaped at her, they finally saw her, and realized that maybe Aaliyah was more than they thought she was....  
  
Please Review! ^_^ Tell me what you think! 


	6. The Socs Give Thanks

Aaliyah  
  
By: Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: AHHHH!!!! DID YOU SEE THE REVIEWS I GOT!!!!!!!! Okay, okay, I know some people has gotten a lot more, but still....I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO GET HATE REVIEWS AND I GOT GOOD ONES!!!! YEAH!!!! Oh, something weird happens in this chapter, and is too much sappy. I had another chapter written where Two-Bit tries to kill a certain main character, but a friend told me it was too much for right now, so I just wrote this sappy chapter to make her happy! Review, please! Oh, believe me, in the next chapter, it will definitely NOT be sappy, but read this one to know what happened to Cherry, 'kay?  
  
Thank you: LadyAurora2065, who's been helping me to stop being lazy and write this!, Rainmaker911, zevie, and LL! You're reviews are GREAT!!!! Thank y'all!  
  
Disclaimer:I solely do NOT own 'The Outsiders', for if I did, the number of books pertaining to it would more than rival 'The Babysitters Club.' They belong to S.E. Hinton, and oh, the Babysitters Club belongs to Ann M. Martin, Ashley Mathews belongs to the great works of AshleyMathews, and my character Aaliyah, belongs to me, along with Mrs. Adriana Herrera. Judith belongs to me, also.  
  
Announcement: Hey, if any of you guys want any of your characters in my story, please tell me in your reviews! I'd LOVE to put them in my story, and don't worry, your name will be in the Disclaimer section, so you'll also get some publicity!  
  
Chapter 6:The Socs Give Thanks  
  
For the next few days, everyone paid more attention to Aaliyah and their friendships with each other. It wasn't exactly soap opera love, but it was better. Still, though, Aaliyah didn't talk much, but somehow, their relationships got stronger. Two weeks later, they were all at the Mathews' house again, because Darry wanted the Curtis house clean for a week, because he didn't want to clean on one of the busiest weeks of his jobs.  
  
So the group was having fun in the livingroom and all, and Aaliyah was practicing in the next room playing the cello quite well. But that was all disturbed at around 7:30 P.M. that night when someone was knocking on the door. Everyone stood up, which was rare, because they usually fought over who had to answer the door. Aaliyah, who was nearest to the door, slowly opened the door, and suddenly found herself in the arms of a crying, happy boy about seventeen.  
  
"Oh, Aaliyah! Thank you SO SO SO SO much!" he cheered as he twirled her around and around. There was two other sixteen-or-seventeen kids with him. Two girl, one boy. And they were Socs hugging a girl with two Greaser siblings. You couldn't exactly call Aaliyah a Greaser. She didn't even know what a Soc or a Greaser was. Everyone was shocked. It was Shane, Randy, Judith, and Marcia. They were the biggest Socs in school. Shane was Cherry's second boyfriend after Bob died. The first one....eeee, you'll find out later.  
  
"Thank you so much for bringing my best friend back," Marcia hugged Aaliyah, tears just falling down like a waterfall.  
  
"You brought our Cherry back," Judith cried as she hugged Aaliyah. Everyone's mouths dropped a little bit wider. Judith was the biggest Soc in school. She wouldn't be caught dead on this side of town, she wouldn't be caught dead touching a Greaser. But here she was, on the Greaser side of town, hugging a supposed to be Greaser, and crying at her feet, too.  
  
"Thank you, Aaliyah," Randy tearfully said, hugging her in his turn. The four Socs were crying their eyes out, and the Greasers did not know why.  
  
"Why are you on this side of town?" Two-Bit asked them, kind of scared of the situation. Then, Randy came up to Two-Bit and hugged him, crying like there was no tommorow.  
  
"You have the best sister in the world, man," he cried into Two-Bit's shoulder. Then Two-Bit patted his back.  
  
"I know," Two-Bit replied.  
  
"Wait, how did you know who Aaliyah was in the first place?" Steve asked the four teens.  
  
"Well," Marcia sobbed, "Cherry changed into a really angry, mean, and disturbed person after Bob died, and Cherry's first boyfriend after Bob died....he used to be so abusive on her, and one day, I was walking with them, when he tried to kill her with a knife, and I couldn't do anything. But....but....Aaliyah was walking with some old lady, and she dropped the instruments she was carrying and started to fight them. Not like y'all do in a fight, but like....I don't know how to describe how she did it....but she beat the living tar out of him. Cherry could've been killed, and she saved her." She went sobbing into Randy shoulder, and continued, "And after that, Cherry kept going to your house to see Aaliyah, and she changed back into the sweet, caring person she once was."  
  
"You did that?!" Ashley asked her twin in surprise. Aaliyah nodded, remembering her little encounter with that guy who tried to kill Cherry. She remembered how Cherry was so tramatized after that, and Cherry visited her a few times until she got better.  
  
"Wow, we got little hero in the Mathews' house," Sodapop laid his hand on Aaliyah's left shoulder. Aaliyah smiled turning her head toward him, with her right hand on her right shoulder, looking like a model or something. Johnny was staring intently at Aaliyah now. He was definitely proud of her, but now he felt a hollow feeling in him now. One, because flashes of him killing Bob flooded his mind and because he felt he could never get Aaliyah to be his girlfriend, because he felt she was too good for him. He sighed and kept staring at the beautiful girl stylishly dressed in a black tee shirt, long black pants, a silver and gold chain belt, and two silver necklaces, one being a cross. Her long black hair was shiny, with some of her bangs covering her left side of her forehead, sometimes covering her left eye, which was greenish-hazel right now.  
  
Dally, who was being smart at the time, did not make any comments at the Socs. If Johnny and Aaliyah weren't there, he would, but he didn't want to make them get any ideas in their heads. Ashley and Angela probably wouldn't care, but he treated Aaliyah and Johnny like his siblings, and secretly, though he would never admit it, wanted to set a good example for them.  
  
After a while, the four emotional teenagers had to go. When they went outside, Aaliyah closed the door. When she turned around, her eyes were closed, as she turned, her eyes opened, and with the light haloing her, she really did look like an angel. Everyone stared for a moment.  
  
"Well, we're really proud of you, Aaliyah," Darry told her.  
  
"Yeah, but that was wierd," Two-Bit remarked, "They were crying at your feet like you were a priest or something." He patted her head, and sat down. Aaliyah flashed her white teeth and sat in her rocking chair, got her viola out, and started to play 'Nearer My God To Thee' with such feeling it could make anyone cry.  
  
"I wish Aaliyah could talk," Ashley said aloud.  
  
"I never heard her talk before, though," Sandy admitted.  
  
"Hey, do you guys notice something?" Steve suddenly spoke up.  
  
"What?" they all said in unison, while the viola was playing it's solo.  
  
"Aaliyah is your twin, Ashley, but her face looks so much like Two- Bit's almost," Steve investigated.  
  
"Actually, she has Ashley's face more, though," Sodapop argued.  
  
"She doesn't have my face," Ashley contradicted, "She looks like Two- Bit."  
  
"No, she doesn't. If she did, she'd look like Dad, and then she wouldn't be so pretty."  
  
"Well, thanks a lot!" Ashley jokingly pushed Two-Bit.  
  
"You don't look like your Dad, you look more like your Mom," Angela told her best friend. They all spent the rest of night fighting over who everyone got their looks from, and it was a wonderful night between friends.  
  
A/N: I apologize for all the sappy soap opera incidents! Please don't write bad reviews, though! the next chapter will be better, believe me! Thanks for reading, and review now! Remember the announcement I made! ^_^! 


	7. Smoking Can Kill Ya

Aaliyah  
  
By: Aaliyah-Charity  
  
A/N: Hey, here's the non-sappy chapter I promised ya! This is a very sad chapter. Oh, I wrote this while listening to the song Goodbye Earl and some Christina Aguilera songs.  
  
Thank you: To everyone who reviewed. I appreciate it!  
  
Announcement: If y'all want, I'll put your characters in my story. (For details, go back to Chapter 6.) Thank y'all!  
  
Disclaimer: I dion't own 'The Outsiders,' but S.E. Hinton does! Ashley belongs to AshleyMathews, and Aaliyah, Mrs. Herrera, and Judith belong to me!!!! Yay!!!! (Don't ask why I just put that.) Oh, and Sheryl, Kehley, and Kimmy Morris, Carol and Buddy Summers belongs to me. Oh, and the one line from 'John Q' belongs to the movie producers and writers.  
  
Chapter 7: Smoking Can Kill Ya  
  
A few days later after the strange incident, life at school got wierd for the ones who went. Some Socs actually talked to Two-Bit and Ashley, and all because they were related to a girl who couldn't even talk. Then Johnny and Ponyboy and Steve and Sandy and everyone else got reconition, too. And you better believe Sodapop got at least fifty new admirers, which didn't suit Sandy too well. It was really wierd, but it was nice not to be treated like dirt from (most) of the Socs for a change.  
  
"Hey, Ashley, Two-Bit, wanna come over today?" Ponyboy asked them at school.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Ashley agreed, and it was settled, "Just let me stop by my house first, so I can get something."  
  
"Okay," Ponyboy compromised.  
  
After school, they stopped by the Mathews' house, and saw Aaliyah writing in a notebook in her rocking chair. She waved to them and sat writing.  
  
"Hey, can Aaliyah come, too?" Ashley asked.  
  
"Yeah, sure," Ponyboy shrugged, "If she wants to."  
  
"Hey, Aaliyah, come with us," Two-Bit invited, and Aaliyah merrily shrugged her shoulders, and went with them.  
  
At the Curtis house, it was normal-well, normal for the Curtis house. Soda and Steve were wrestling and laughing and Johnny and Ponyboy and Ashley and Angela were talking, and Aaliyah was writing in her notebook. Two-Bit and Dally was discussing something but no one could hear them. Darry was in the kitchen making dinner.  
  
"What are you writing?" Two-Bit asked Aaliyah. She passed him her notebook, and saw that she was writing some music for something called a bassoon.  
  
"What is a bas-son?" Two-Bit tried to say the word he never heard of. Aaliyah really wanted to tell him it wasn't bas-son, it was bassoon, but she didn't say anything. She took back the notebook and turned a few pages back and handed it back to him. It had a drawing of it, and had a two-page details of the funny-looking woodwind instrument. While this was happening, Johnny had gone into the kitchen.  
  
Suddenly, Aaliyah stood up and went into the direction of the bathroom, where you have to pass the kitchen. Unfortunately, Johnny was going back to the livingroom, smoking a cigarette. As they passed, he breathed out the smoke, it got on Aaliyah and she started choking. She dropped immediatly, and started shaking and wheezing. She was shaking really bad.  
  
"AALIYAH! WHAT'S WRONG?!" Ashley screamed as she ran to her twin. Two- Bit and everyone stopped what they were doing and went towards the shaking girl.  
  
"EVERYBODY CLEAR OUT!!!!" Darry yelled at them, and called the ambulance. Aaliyah kept wheezing, trying to breathe, but she was just....just shaking vigirously. Her eyes were shut, unconcious by now.  
  
"C'mon, Aaliyah....," Steve pleaded. Ashley was holding her twin's right hand, and Two-Bit was holding her left, while pressing his right hand on her forehead. She wouldn't stop shaking. She wouldn't stop wheezing, and it was scaring the crap out of everyone. Johnny's eyes were bloodshot, his face was frozen in shock.  
  
"C'mon, Johnny, it's alright," Ponyboy put his hand on Johnny's shoulder, trying to get him to come back to life.  
  
"Come on, you guys, I'll drive you to the hospital. Only Two-Bit and Ashley can go in the ambulance, probably, so c'mon," Darry suggested as he got ready to go. Everyone but Aaliyah's siblings went; it took two cars, though. The paramedics came and rushed out of there. It all happened so fast. In the hospital, they took Aaliyah into the emergency room, and a silber beam just blasted into Two-Bit's and Ashley's eyes as they saw her go in for emergency service.  
  
Soon, in the waiting room, everyone was there, and Two-Bit adn Ashley joined them. Sandy arrived not much later. She was crying; she hated hospitals.  
  
Two-Bit was on a white bench, praying with his eyes shut tight. Dally looked grim, a hard look in his eyes mixed with sadness; you could see it if you looked closely. Darry looked worried, Sodapop was trying to make everyone feel better, Ponyboy, Angela, and Sandy was trying to calm down Ashley. Johnny....Johnny was a wreck. He was shivering fear, his eyes were wide of shock. He was close to tears, and so was Two-Bit, but Johnny was closer, for he knew he made Aaliyah sick.  
  
An hour later, Ms. Mathews rushed in, crying like there was no tommorow.  
  
"What happened to my baby?" she shreeked, as Steve tried to calm her down. Two-Bit was in a daze, still praying. He wasn't very religious, but it was all he could do.  
  
Word must've gotten around, because Cherry and Marcia busted in there, crying, and asking questions. Judith, Randy, and Shawn came in about five minutes after them. Then, a ragged looking woman with a baby came in and asked about Aaliyah. She looked like a Greaser woman.  
  
"What's happened to her?" she cried out.  
  
"What do you have to do with her?" Ashley asked.  
  
"She....delievered my baby," the woman nodded toward the baby.  
  
"WHAT?! How come we never knew this?" Ms. Mathews exclaimed.  
  
"I was in an alley next to a music store, and she and this old lady came out and I was in labor. I wouldn't go to no hospital, I have no money, and besides, it was too late for that. Aaliyah yelled out all the instructions and delivered my baby, and the other woman held my hand. Aaliyah's just an angel! She's the sweetest, most darling girl ever! She played a clarinet for my little baby, and Mrs. Herrera, that's the old lady's name, took me to her house to clean up the baby," The old woman explained. Everyone was shocked again.  
  
"How come this was never brought to our attention?" Ms. Mathews asked.  
  
"It was in the paper," the woman told them, "For a week, almost. First day was on the front cover,"  
  
the woman reached into her purse and got out an old newspaper. Ashley looked at it, and it was about two months old.  
  
"Oh, I remember seeing that! It was 'An Angel Delievers A Baby.' It didn't interest me much, so I never read it," Darry remembered.  
  
Everyone read the newspaper then, even Two-Bit. When Johnny read it, he was even more sad. Here was this....this miracle worker who he believed would never give him the time of day, and he near killed her! What if he did kill her? He was near tears by then. One....two tears went out, before he brushed them away, and handed the newspaper back to the woman. Her name was Ms. Carol Summers. Her son's name was Buddy Summers.  
  
Then came in the hospital a little girl in a cute white dress with her mother in a matching white dress. The girl had a cage in her hand with a white poodle with black paws in it. They looked like Socs.  
  
"How is she? How's Aaliyah?" the woman asked.  
  
"Who are you?" Steve asked.  
  
"I'm Sheryl Morris, and this is my daughter, Kehley Morris," she told the group.  
  
"Kimmy here was stuck in a tree and Aaliyah jumped up the tree like a gymnast and got it for us. She's an amazing gymnast, I tell you. I wanna be just like her," the little girl explained.  
  
'Great, I killed someone's role model,' Johnny thought sadly.  
  
To everyone's surprise, Tim came in the hospital.  
  
"Tim! What are you doing here?" Angela screamed at him.  
  
"I owe it to Aaliyah," Tim told her.  
  
"What did she do?" Angela curiously wanted to know.  
  
"I was in a fight and the guy was about to hit me with a pipe, a long one, and your crazy sister Aaliyah came and took it away from him. Then she broke it in half with her leg. I can't even bend it. But she saved me, and I owe it to her," Tim explained, "She's definitely no Greaser, but she ain't no stuck-up Soc either."  
  
'Great, even Tim has to be saved by her,' Johnny thought.  
  
Before any other person that Aaliyah saved could come, a doctor came, and asked, "Anybody here for Aaliyah Mathews?"  
  
"We are," everyone said in unison. It didn't matter if they were Soc or Grease, they were all for Aaliyah.  
  
"Okay, you're all gonna know sooner or later, so I'll just tell all of you. You know how when you smoke, it blackens your lungs? Well, I know Aaliyah doesn't smoke, if she did, she'd be dead even if she smoked one, but she must be around people who smokes. Well, Aaliyah was born very, very weak, you know. When carbon monoxode enters her body, it effects her fifty times faster and more than Ashley or anybody else. And it gave her a seizure attack," the doctor explained, "Now I must go see her, you can too, later, because we have to see how much damage is done. We're doing the best we can, I know I am. She saved my daughter from being raped about three months ago, so I'm definitely doing my best."  
  
'Great, another miracle she did! And I done killed her!' Johnny thought, as a tear slid off his face before he could stop it.  
  
"But how is she?" Ms. Mathews asked, wide with worry.  
  
"She's in critical condition right now. We're doing the best we can," the doctor reassured her before going back to Aaliyah.  
  
"Why didn't we know about the smoking thing?" Two-Bit asked his mother.  
  
"I thought you knew. I quit smoking after Aaliyah had a seizure when she was six months old, her father already smoked enough to kill her," Ms. Mathews cried even harder at the thought of her ex-husband.  
  
"Are you okay, Ms. Mathews?" Sodapop asked.  
  
"Yes, I'm quite alright," she replied.  
  
About thirty minutes later, a nurse came out. She was a bleached blonde with her skirt way too short to be a nurse, but she was.  
  
"Aaliyah's immidiate family can now see her," she announced, "Room 869."  
  
Ashley, Two-Bit, and Ms. Mathews sprang up and rushed to the hospital room. When they got there, they saw a horrible sight. Aaliyah was attached to about a million tubes and machines. A screen read out her vital signs, and they looked alright, but seeing the way she was could give anyone nightmares.  
  
"Hey, Aaliyah," Ashley went to her twin. Aaliyah turned her head towards her about three inches and opened her eyes about half-way.  
  
"Are you okay?" Ashley asked. Aaliyah nodded a little.  
  
"That's good. Mom and Two-Bit's here," Ashley told her. Two-Bit came up to where his sisters where.  
  
"Hey, Babygirl, you holdin' up okay?" he tried to be calm. This reminded him way too much of when Johnny was in the hospital. Again, Aaliyah nodded. There was a glass partition with a small door frame between her and the next patient, and a doctor and the kid's parents were with the patient. The doctor told the parents something and the parent's eyes went wide. The team of nurses started to take away the kid in the bed.  
  
"NOOOO! LET ME HOLD MY BABY! LET ME HOLD MY BABY!!!!" the woman screamed out, and the doctor and some nurses were trying to hold her back. The man was fuming mad. The blanket went over the kid's head, and the man was so mad, he punched the partition, breaking the glass along with it. Dust and glass particles went everywhere, and it went into Aaliyah's mouth and nose. She started shaking and wheezing again.  
  
"Oh, God, oh, God," Ms. Mathews repeated over and over.  
  
"WE NEED A DOCTOR, RIGHT AWAY!" a nurse screamed out.  
  
"First we need to remove her from this room!" another cried out. Half of the nurse team started doing just that. They moved her out, and passed the waiting room, but that did not stop the blood flowing out of Aaliyah where the sharp glass attacked her.  
  
"LORDY S***!" Dally yelled as she passed. Everyone was shocked, and even more scared than before. Johnny was even whiter than before, and started hyperventilating. Buddy started cry, and Kehley was frozen shocked.  
  
"I don't know how she will live through that," Steve remarked. Then, they saw Ashley. Trickles of blood and glass was on her, she was being led away by a nurse. Then, they heard shouts and screams from two male voices. One of them, a thirty-something year old, and Two-Bit. Some doctors had to seperate them, blood from punches and glass were penitrating their bodies. Ms. Mathews came out, wiping away some tears, and sat down with the wondering kids in the waiting room.  
  
*Please Review* 


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